


Dear Yamatai

by Anonymous



Series: The Blossoms of Time [6]
Category: Historical RPF, Japanese History RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 16:46:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5255906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hai, a girl born in China and quickly moved to Japan in the late 200s to escape the esculating war that's about to erupt within the already broken Jin Dynasty, has everything to give to her new homeland. Married off quickly she suddenly finds there are many wars to fight, courts to run and laws to make. With internal infighting between her family and raising her own it's up to her to keep order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Baekje

My family were born to serve. That was an unavoidable factor of our lives. However high we climbed at some point we'd fall back to square one where I, Hăi (海), began. While living on the peninsula of Korea our close knit families, serving Yuzuki on Kimi as he came to be known, we thrived and prospered under his name. We stayed only a short time in Baekje kingdom which was at the time being ruled by King Goi. Yuzuki no Kimi was in tight knit with this king and for that we were highly famed. This is where my story begins by the sea. I was fourteen years old.

My name, lets start with that. Hăi (海) is a Chinese name. I am Chinese. Yuzuki no Kimi, our leader of tight knit families, is descended from the Qin dynasty of our home land however we have emigrated gradually over time. When I was ten years old my father, who was a fisherman at the time, my name comes from the river he fished on, was approached by Yuzuki no Kimi on request of business. That business was to take him to the neighbouring country known as Baekje. With gentle yet persistent persuasion Father managed to make Yuzuki no Kimi take a selection of families that could preform well in various trades. With this army of productiveness now in under his name Yuzuki no Kimi used us to steer his way to the sea side of Baekje. Now when I said that Yuzuki no Kimi was in tight knit with King Goi it's not just a figure of speech. On the day of my fourteenth birthday a mere sixteen days before this story starts Yuzuki no Kimi was made a Prince of Baekje.

“Today calls for celebration!” Father had cheered when he came into our little home that had been almost completely free on the Prince's head, the price was that Father sell all the fish he caught, except a small selection for us, and give a portion of the money to King Goi. We didn't mind this, we ate well and were clothed well, with a roof over our heads, we had nothing to really complain about. Pretty much the same could be said for the rest of the rather small “clan” that my Father had created by means of persuasion. Though we were known as the 特殊的家庭 (Tèshū de jiātíng;Special Family) because we had blood relations with the Prince. They were kind of distant, as far as my understanding went the Prince's Aunt was my Grandmother. Her husband had settled for a simple Fisherman's life, which had been passed onto my Father and was now being passed onto my three brothers, Jian (健) who was seventeen,Chang (昌) who was sixteen and Chao (超) who was ten.

“So, our little girl is fourteen years old” Mother laughed, a broad smile on her face. Mother always laughed and smiled like this. She made the rest of us do it just by the sheer force of her aura. Even my Sister, Měi (美), who was the moodiest twelve year old in the world.  
“Oh she's just hit the change, you were just like her, leave her be, you just got special treatment because boys are different to us” Mother had told me when I complained about Měi.  
“Hey, Mama, Papa, how come you've not married Hăi off yet?” Jian asked, he had been married since he was thirteen to a local Korean girl named Sook who occasionally came to visit us, though she mostly lived with her parents as did Jian. They were however expecting a child in the coming months.  
“The Prince asked us not to” Father answered, “we can't tell you why just yet.”  
“You'll find out soon enough” Mother added, smiling at us, making us all forget our suspicions.

Yet it troubled me for a long time, wondering what on earth they were talking about. Mother and Father had never kept a secret from us, unless it was being saved for birthdays but we all understood that. Why would they keep something from us now? It has been my Birthday and Chao's isn't for another three months, what could they be hiding? For sixteen days it bothered me, nagging at the back of my head while I was sewing, while I was praying, while I was studying, while I was out selling Fish and hand made clothes at market with Father. I never knew such a thing could be cause for so much thought, seen as it's something you know nothing about.

Aside from my puzzling over a blind matter I carried on with my life as normal. By instruction I was being taught, along with Chao and Měi, to write and read our language. Of course we could speak it fluently, as well as the language the Baekje spoke, though we had only ever learnt to write numbers the way they did and that was so we could sell things to them. I was lucky, I knew that. To know two languages and be able to learn to write anything but my name. Women were not educated most of the time, we were truly lucky.  
“You should be grateful!” Mother snapped at Měi when she began to whine about how she had to sit for an hour learning, “can I read? Can I hell!” Mother, along with her cheery nature, occasionally had quite a sharp tongue as well, though this was usually when Father wasn't around. I wasn't always too sure if they really got on, the marriage, one of the few, had not been arranged but it certainly was worse it falling apart now when they could only have a few years left.

To find a sanctuary from home I often found myself a top of a hill that looked over the small city and the sea. Occasionally I would practice my writing and wrote down what was on my mind. Of course as a girl I had to keep these to myself, less I get in trouble which was something I most definitely did not want to do. It's not that anyone would really mind, Mother would help me keep it secret, Jian and Chang would laugh, Měi would shrug and Chao would beg to read it while my youngest sister would ask if I was writing about any boys. As if I would, was I interested in any of the boys I met? As Mother would say, was I hell!

Come every seventh morning I would wake early and go with Father to sell what we had caught and made over the says since last market day. Mother and I, when I wasn't studying of course, would make dresses and other such garments for the locals and our own little clan. Many a memory would spark when I saw people wearing what we had made. Mother loved to sing as she worked, usually they were cradle songs she had graced my sibling's and my young ears with time ago.  
Little bird, little bird  
Will you come sit by me?  
Sing your sweet tune  
Sing my dear child to sleep  
As your sweet tweet falls so shall their eyes  
Walk them to the land of dreams, filled with good and fortune

Little bird, little bird  
Will you come sit by me?  
Sing your sweet tune  
Sing my dear child awake  
As your sweet tweet heightens so shall their minds  
Walk them back to this land of love 

Mother had a beautiful singing voice and that was the only trait none of us inherited from her. Měi and I could not always pronounce things correctly while our brother's voices were too low to try. Our youngest sister had never tried, even though we had urged her to she refused. So to count away the tireless hours working on the clothes Mother would sing until she could talk no more. Oh how lucky we were to have such a woman in our family. 

“Papa, when are we going to be told why you can't marry me off?” I asked when we were eating one night. It was a pleasant warm night and we had received a visit from the Prince earlier in the day, it had been a good day.  
“You are impatient aren't you Jiějiě” Měi commented.  
“Quiet!” Mother snapped at her, “there's nothing wrong with having a curious mind about such things, even for us.” Měi looked away, embarrassed. Admittedly I felt a little sorry for her at that point, Mother didn't need to snap at her so, even if she and Father had been arguing...at least he never laid a hand on her like many men did.  
“You shall find out soon enough” Father answered, turning to me with a rather forced smile as he spoke, breaking the awkward silence that followed. 

When they said soon they really did mean soon. Except they had not only not given us any hints to what was happening but left it to the day it would happen.  
“Hăi, Měi, Xiu” Mother said, to wake all of us up, “get up and take anything precious and your finest clothes.” I pushed myself up off my bed, my eyes clenched shut as I blinked at the light, Mother had just lit candles so we could see and the sudden light hurt my eyes.  
“What's going on Mama?” Xiu (秀) asked, she was eight and had inherited Mother's cheery nature more than any of us.  
“We're going to the country across the water” Mother answered with excitement as she made Měi get out of bed.  
“The one the Prince has talked about so often?!” I asked, sitting up immediately.  
“Yes! The very one” she laughed, “now quick, we're leaving when the sun rises!”

I certainly did speed up a little. Packing what was precious was easy enough, we may have been blood relatives of the Prince but we had little that was of any note except a few personal things. I took my small box that Chang had made me that had all my little treasures in. There wasn't much, my Grandmother's ring and two necklaces, one yin and yang. They had been together when I bought them at a market, they were made of copper and not all that expensive but I did love them. I had decided when I bought them that I would only brake them apart when I married and give the Ying side to whoever I married and then we pass them on to one of our own children when they married and so on and so forth. The final item was a small flower hair pin that had one belonged to Lady Zhen Ji, a consort of Cao Pi. I had no idea how we'd come into possession of it but it's beauty often made me forget to query it's origin. That box and my finest clothes fit perfectly into what my Mother had given me to hold them in. Soon enough I was in my Ruqun and ready to go. Of course, being the person she was, the same could not be said for Měi.

We did not eat that morning but instead went straight to the port near to our house.  
“I wish I could fish here again, the most prosperous place I've done so” Father sighed, however he smiled and followed with a remark, “well maybe this country across the water will have such good rivers and seas as well.”  
“According to our relatives there they do” the Prince answered with a laugh, “I dare say you'll make more money than you did here!” Father laughed along with him and they continued to talk. I stopped paying attention and stared out across the calm, blue water and smiled. We were finally going to the country the Prince talked so fondly of. Yamatai, that's what we called it and apparently it was ruled by a woman, Queen Himiko. That was hard to imagine, women were the vessels of men but this woman seemed to have taken over a country and had male vessels. Of course this may have just been high tales told by the Prince's relatives but it did sound amazing...a woman ruling a co-

“Oi! Hăi? You in there?!” Yelled a voice right in my face. I screamed and jumped back,  
“白痴Xun!” I snapped back when I got over my shock. Xun (迅) was my best friend and had been since I was very young. He was the Blacksmith's son and the exact same age as me, quite literally, we had been born on the same day though he was half a day older.  
“I was trying to talk to you and you were ignoring me!” He whined.  
“I was thinking about Yamatai!” I protested, “I heard the people are under a Queen!”  
“Oh you and your silliness, you know a woman can't run a country” he said dismissively.  
“Maybe they're different to us, maybe women and men are equal” I suggested. He just laughed. I sighed, I knew he was right, they probably were just high tales from our connections. Still...a girl can hope.

As the sun began to raise King Goi came to see us all off to Yamatai.  
“You are a favoured Prince of this realm, you may return whenever you wish, my successor shall welcome you if I am no longer here” he said to the Prince.  
“Thank you, King Goi” the Prince replied, bowing deeply. He then moved along to our family,  
“Thank you, for what you have provided for our small kingdom for the last years. I wish you and your family the best” King Goi said to my Father, with a kindly smile on his face. He was an old man who had managed to live far beyond what any of us would manage, but of course he was king so it was understandable.  
“We are grateful for the hospitality that you have shown our family and those with us” Father replied, all of us bowed to King Goi, “there is no way we can truly repay you for what you have done for us.”  
“Merely supplying our Kingdom with a new culture and food is enough to do so” the King answered. He then went to all of the other families and thanked them individually. 

We did look a strange bunch and many of the Baekje people did not half stare. We were no longer wearing our Korean clothing but rather what we had brought over from China. Only one person was in Korean clothing, Sook, as she was coming with us. I saw her weeping and knew immediately she did not want to leave her family behind.  
“Papa” I asked, tugging on his sleeve, he looked down at me from his great height,  
“Yes, Hăi?” He replied, looking puzzled.  
“Can't Sook's parents come with us?” I asked, I glanced at them again to see her Mother crying as she hugged her daughter again and again.  
“They have decided to stay, Jian and I did truly did try and persuade them but alas, was no use” he sighed, “I do wish we could, but they do not.”  
“We're not coming back, are we?” I asked, looking at the ground.  
“No, this is our final hours in this country” Father answered.

Too pained to continue watching Sook and her elderly parents I turned my back and watched the sea again. It was calm and pleasant to look at, no unrest or anything...at least we were mostly assured a safe journey. There had been times when it had been so rough we had worried that Father and my brother's would not arrive home. As the calm water shook gently against the wall of the boat and fell back from it's weak offence the sun crept higher and higher into the sky. We were to leave soon. It was a strange atmosphere. To have the locals who had grown accustom to us were now staring at us with a frightened air about them. They had only seen us like this once before, when we had first journeyed here with the Prince, to see us like this again after four years must have been terrifying.

“Jiějiě?” Xiu asked, taking my hand and squeezing, “do you want to leave?”  
“No, I don't want to” I answered, “do you Měiměi?”  
“No. We have to follow the Prince though don't we?” She replied. She was a tiny child compared to me so I picked her up and we watched the water together, a cloud had moved and was producing a dazzling silver on the gentle waves.  
“Yes, like we have to follow Papa and Mama and will have to follow our husbands when we are married” I answered, my eyes following the sparkles.  
“Do you want to get married Jiějiě?” Xiu asked, resting her head on my shoulder.  
“That doesn't matter” I sighed, “it's not if we want to, we just have to” I answered.  
“But you can tell me if you want to, can't you?” She wondered, lifting her head and frowning at me.  
“I guess I do...it depends on who to” I mumbled, looking away from her frown, like Mother when she frowned it was strange to make anyone uncomfortable, even Měi who should have been right in her comfort zone because she was the moodiest twelve year old in the world.

For a little while Xiu and I continued to stare at the sparkling Ocean, waiting while all of the Clan's things were put onto the ship we were travelling on.  
“Miss, may I speak to you?” Asked a voice. Xiu had long since gone to stay goodbye to her Korean friends one more time. I turned and bowed immediately,  
“Princess, it is I who should be asking” I replied, lifting my head and looking up at her.  
“Please, straighten yourself, we are friends aren't we?” She smiled. I smiled back, standing straight,  
“Of course, Princess” I answered.  
“I would like to give you something before you go” she replied, her beautiful eyes stealing the light's beauty as the water had.  
“You do not have to do such a thing” I protested, “please, see no need to.”  
“I must” she replied, taking something from her robes that was wrapped in a small piece of cloth. I lifted the folded pieces slowly and inside was a Hair pin made of pure gold. I was lost for words.  
“Th-th-thank you” I stuttered, forcing the words past my surprise. She smiled, bowed to me and turned her back before I could do anything to return the gesture.  
“Hăi!” Father yelled to me, “come on, we're boarding.” With the Hair clip clutched close to my chest I quickly went to join everyone else and only when I reached them did I look back. The Princess was gone. Like my life here. My life here is gone. Now is the time to start a new.


	2. Across The Sea

The crossing wasn't too bad. Father estimated that it would be a week before the country came into view and even then another day before we might reach it, half if we had the wind in our favour and the waters were calm enough. Each individual family had their own boat built very much like the fishing boats we had in China, with everything below a deck so that sleep was easily acquired and it was much warmer. Each boat was headed by one of the Korean fishermen who had worked with Father, we had one even though all of my family were expert sailors, the Prince had insisted so. Not only that, he had also insisted her travel with us, as we were family.

The thing about this so called family was that it was distant. My Grandmother had settled for a low fisherman and moved to the banks of the river that gradually flowed into the sea. There they had my Father and his three brothers and four sisters who had all remained in China and some what miraculously all lived to adulthood and had their own families, making our actual family huge. It got even bigger as she herself had many siblings who lived well. Her Brother, Shengli (勝利), instead went a woman he deemed worthy of what little status he had left and thus the Prince came into being, along with a great number of siblings that was common in every single family, rich or poor. Perhaps the Prince's insistence of family was trying to mend the distance that had immediately been created when my Grandmother choose not to hang desperately onto what status quickly wallowed away.

Come the third day the waters were rough but no rain battered down on us like it had done the day before.  
“We're lucky” Father said as he sat down on the mat he'd put out for himself and Mother. Mei, Xiu and I had to share, as did Chang and Chao while Sook and Jian had there own and the Prince had his own. The Korean man always did the steering through the night and Father basically forced him to sleep and let him and my Brothers take over during the day. He was quite young and a loud snorer, which, rain or shine, forced us to stay above deck.  
“Indeed we are” Jian agreed, “imagine if we were hit by both, it would be a miracle if we weren't tipped.” Sook stayed quiet, merely nodding when Jian looked at her.

I could see that Sook was not happy in the marriage she was in. I had seen it from day one, before they even were married. The Sook I had known when she was thirteen and I was ten was a very happy and carefree girl who laughed all day and had the most amazing dreams. They were colourful and a great joy to listen to descriptions of. Great fish that shone all different kinds of colour (both our families were fisher families and in a constant, if somewhat joke worthy, rivalry) and the sky a deep colour of crimson. She had been like that when they were first married, though as time passed it dampened to the weak mouse she was now. I knew Jian cared for her but being pulled away from her family as had left her even worse. It seemed she only took care of herself to take care of the baby she carried. A truly tragic woman. 

“Prince?” I asked on the fifth day, one of the rolls of paper that I'd brought on my lap on top of a board that Mother had found and given me to write on some time ago.  
“Yes, Hai?” He replied, he was stitching something up, Mother and I had found he had a great talent for it and on request put him straight to work.  
“How do you write Yamatai?” I asked, “and how come it's all one tone.” The Prince smiled and put his work aside, he took the paper from me and wrote the characters at the top.  
“Our relatives had told me that the language they speak is very different to our own, they do not have the tones we have so it's not as hard to learn. Though many of the people have never considered writing so communicating to them may be a little difficult at first” he answered. He then pointed out each character and told me the sound that went with them.  
“Prince?” I asked again, “do you...do you think we could teach them to write? Maybe, if we had someone who knew our language and their's maybe we could give them our characters.” He smiled and ruffled my hair gently,  
“Maybe we can Hai, maybe we can.”

From then on I wrote every diary entry with the opening of “Dear Yamatai” I wanted to give to someone to read who was from Yamatai. Perhaps the very Queen herself! I wanted them to learn to write and read so that they may find the wonders in poetry and written scriptures without them being lost in effort to remember them by word of mouth.  
“You're day dreaming again, Jiejie” Mei commented when she saw the look on my face, “what impossible thing do you want to do now?”  
“According to the Prince the people cannot read or write and those who can are from our country” I answered, “I thought maybe there was a way we could give them our characters.” Mei laughed,  
“Oh your dreams are silly Jiejie” she giggled, “think about it, how many people are going to have the patience to learn to read and write unless they're bedridden and have no more time left in the world? We don't need to learn to read and write, we need to learn how to live and then practice that at length. You're so silly.” I pulled a face and looked away,  
“I guess you're right.”

Still I wrote. The first person I wrote about was Sook, I had never mentioned her in the old diary which was now a full role and could have nothing more added to it. I wanted to write about her though. She was so kind, something no one expected of someone who barely talked or even smiled. She did everything asked of her and more, she helped Mother and I with our sewing and clothes making. She helped us with everything! Yet she went on ignored, quietly slipping out of everyone's worry and minds. Was she okay?! Did she want to go with us at all?! Did she want to carry that child?! I wanted to speak to her about everything so much but I didn't want to ask her too many questions, or appear mean to her. I was always scared I would. I just wanted the thirteen year old Sook back who had colourful dreams that were a pleasure to hear about.

Dear Yamatai,  
My Brother, Jian, has a wife. Her name is Sook and she is from Baekje unlike us who are from the shores of the Hai river. She is quiet and helpful. She does not speak and she does not smile and many do not expect her to be kind. She is kind. She is amazing. I wish we could have stayed at home so she could be with her parents and siblings. She misses them, I can see it. I swear I heard her crying. She used to be like an older sister to me, and everyone else. Her family were rivals with ours, but it wasn't real and the two got on well. I want to go home so Sook is happier. She used to be so talkative and lovely. Her dreams were amazing, seeing her now I'm not sure if she still has them but I doubt it. Please, someone bring Sook back, she's too kind to be miserable all the time. I don't want her to be unhappy, Mother's are supposed to be happy people who love their children. I don't want her to be unhappy, I want her to be happy and for Jian to make her smile.

I shocked myself with what I had written and almost went and tossed it in the sea. I didn't though, maybe, just maybe that was the key. Maybe if I showed her this, she might smile. She could read our characters with ease so she'd understand.  
“Sook?” I asked that evening, she was dishing out the fish that had been caught to each of us. She looked at me, something flickered in her eyes that was certainly something of interest. I smiled,  
“Would you please read something I wrote earlier today.” She nodded and the very corners of her lips moved slightly, the closest she ever got to a smile. So we ate in silence. I was both excited and nervous, knowing that this was either going to render her even more speechless and unable to look me in the eye again or make her smile. 

When I did show her Sook became an complete explosion of Baekje words that were far too complicated for me to understand, though how she was speaking sounded like she was happy. This surprised me, I didn't think she would be with how I described her.  
“Thank you Hai” she smiled brightly, “I never thought anyone would have the thought to write about me.” I stared at her for a second and then hugged her tightly with a laugh,  
“I'll write about you all the time then” I grinned. She got down on her knees so she was my height and stroked my cheeks gently,  
“Listen Hai, Jian does make me happy so you don't need to worry about that” she smiled, wiping the tear that slipped from my eye.  
“But what about your parents” I asked, trying not to choke on my tears. Sook smiled still,  
“It's okay, they're just scared of a new world” she laughed at this, “and I still have my colourful dreams all the time, I'll tell you about them.” So that's what she did and I wrote down the endless supply of four years passed to whoever would receive Dear Yamatai.

On the sixth day it started with a scream from Mei. Father had clattered up to the deck immediately and had stamped his foot enough to rock the boat. We all ran up when this happened, all teetering on the stairs.  
“What was that?!” Mother barked.  
“A huge spider” Father answered, lifting his foot to find a very squished “I once had eight legs but now I'm dead” spider. I pulled a face and stepped back a little, the small creature offended me greatly. Jian rolled his eyes and grabbed the writing board out of my hand.  
“Hey!” I snapped, working out he was going to use it to get rid of the spider and trying to grab it back.  
“Oh be quiet” he said, rolling his eyes, “it's just a spider, and a dead one at that.” He scrapped the floor and flung the pieces into the sea before doing the same to father's shoe. Eww.

A storm brewed later that day so we took to sitting below deck and feeling very sorry for the man who was directing the ship instead of Father. My sisters slept and Sook and Mother took to mending some clothes that Jian had accidentally torn. I spent my time looking through the little box of treasures that I had brought. I gently lifted the hairpin out and studied it. The glass petals were an excellent crimson and the leaves a calm green, a yellow centre acting as some kind of sun.

“Father, why do we have something that once belonged to Lady Zhen?” I asked. Father smiled and sat me on his lap,  
“I always wondered when you would ask that.” He took the flower from my hand and twiddled it in his fingers,  
“Lady Zhen gave this to some called Lady Jia” he started.  
“Who's that?” I asked, frowning at him, once again the name had become familiar but I had never known who this Lady Jia was. Father sighed and smiled,   
“Well, I suppose it's something to entertain us.”

“Lady Jia was from the country below our homeland, it used to be called Shan. She was Queen for a little but she lost a war and had to give the title back to her Father. Then she married a man called Xiahou Dun” Father was smiling as he told the story.  
“I've heard of him!” I laughed, “wasn't he a really good general under Cao Cao?” Father laughed,  
“He was indeed, a great general, he was Cao Cao's right hand man. You'd be surprised but actually Lady Jia was almost as good as him. She led armies into battle and fought many battles. However that was when she was Queen so it's never really brought up sadly. Now, Lady Zhen gave Lady Jia the flower as she had looked after Lady Zhen's children, including Cao Pi.”  
“But how did we get something from Lady Jia?” I asked. Father shook his head,  
“Impatient as always with stories aren't you. Well Lady Jia then gave it to your Great-Great Grandmother, now her name's a little complicated. She was originally Guo Mei but by the time she died she was known as Guo Yin but she was also known as Cao Linh and Mei Yin. You still with me?”   
“I...I think so” I smiled, scratching my head. Father smiled,  
“Well Lady Yin passed that onto her daughter Guo Sunqi who's your Great Grandmother who passed it onto your Grandmother Zhen, who's my Mother. When your Mother and I got married she gave it to your mother as a wedding gift.”

“What about this?” I asked as I pulled out the Yin and Yang necklaces after Father had put the hair ornament back. Father took it from me and ran his fingers over the two symbols,  
“This is very, very old Hai” he told me, “and it's been passed down generation after generation since the first Han Emperor's time.”  
“Really?” I asked in surprise. The necklace we were holding was over 500 years old...  
“Yes. Empress Lü Zhi gave it to her female lover, Lady Wang Ma, who gave it to her daughter” Father answered, breaking the two apart and placing the Yang half in my hand and holding the Yin in his own.

“This half has been worn by Emperor Wu of Han and Sima Shi” Father smiled, “and it has been worn by commoners like me.” Father kissed my forehead gently,  
“Hai, we gave you these necklaces because your mother and I think it's best you have them. Who ever you marry you should give this half to” he instructed, placing his half back in my hand.  
“Have you decided yet, who I'll marry?” I asked. He nodded, giving my shoulders a squeeze,  
“It's alright, you'll love them. We won't tell you unless you love him anyway.”  
“Thank you” I smiled. 

Come the final day we finally sighted land but Yuzuki no Kimi had us continuing round and for the entire day we sailed along the coast. We were close in and people stared at us as we went past. They didn't look too different to us...  
“They're from China like us Hai” The Prince smiled, placing his hand on my shoulder as I stared back at the people.  
“Then why are they staring?” I mumbled, taking a step back so I was against the Prince – treating him as if he were some kind of support. Yet he let go of my shoulder and walked to the side of the boat and called something in a language I could not understand but it must have been there's because they laughed and so did the Prince,  
“They were staring at you, Hai.”


End file.
